


Names

by grandcrack3r (spasticVocalist)



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Clone Angst, EDIT: i also wouldnt mind having some help with this, I literally found this ship like two weeks ago why this, I mean it's mostly just the usual bipper bs, M/M, Nightmares, Self Harm, Ty's got a bit a depression, Tybip - Freeform, dang that wasn't a tag you've disappointed me ao3, kinda???, not because of Bill tho, probably, so hmu if you have a Skype/email and would like to scream about these losers with me
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-24
Updated: 2016-07-24
Packaged: 2018-06-10 09:03:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6949750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spasticVocalist/pseuds/grandcrack3r
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Names are powerful things.</p><p>Names hold magic – the essence of one's being.</p><p>Gravity Falls, while indeed almost magnetic to anomalies and the supernatural, holds a magic of its own. It tends to amplify any magic cast within its bounds.</p><p>Names are powerful things.</p><p>»2«</p><p>When Tyrone realizes what he's doing a second before he takes a sip of Pitt Cola, he miraculously manages to survive the night.</p><p>Not willing to basically commit murder, the young Pines twins come up with a cover story, and with the help of the Shack's employees, succeed in pulling it off. Now, the "triplets" have to hide the fact that one of them is paper and keep him from dying as they go about their summer adventures. But what will they do at the end of the summer?</p><p>What will happen when a certain demon enters the picture – and is forced to stay?</p><p>EDIT: i havent given up on this i swear<br/>life is just a cruel unforgiving butt<br/>ive decided to skip straight to Sock Opera bc otherwise im never going to get anything done<br/>especially since im all out of my add meds and cant get any more for an unspecified amount of time for various reasons</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So I'm trash. Not that that's new.  
> Anyway. About two weeks ago, I found the wonder that is the Triple Dipper AU. I then abruptly found myself chained and shackled to another ship. I fell hard for this one, guys. Almost immediately started imagining AUs.  
> Only two weeks, and I'm already in this deep. What is my life.

Being printed was definitely an odd sensation. 

It was almost like being teleported in a video game where the character is loaded from the feet up, except Dipper's clone was not a video game character, and he was made of enchanted paper and ink. 

Becoming three-dimensional was even weirder. 

He had to pull himself out of the paper. It felt like emerging from a pool, only, instead of water, it was really dense, dry air. It was hard to explain, but that was as close as he was going to get, he supposed. 

After Dipper's initial moment of gawking at his clone, they talked for a bit, Dipper drew a "2" on the clone's blank hat in permanent marker, and he decided the clone needed a name. 

"Definitely not," honestly, who would want to be named Number Two? "You know what name I've always wanted?" the clone prompted instead. 

" _Tyrone?_ " Dipper Classic and his copy recited in unison. 

The newly-named Tyrone felt an odd sensation pass through him, making him shiver slightly, but it was gone before he could investigate it too closely. He figured it was nothing. It probably _was_ nothing. 

Tyrone almost changed his mind when he realized his and Dipper's minds didn't feel as closely connected as before. _That_ sure seemed like something. But he had no idea what caused it, or if it was just something that was supposed to happen. He didn't want to stress himself or Dipper if it was going to end up being unimportant. 

Besides, it was probably nothing. 

»2«

Dipper and Tyrone sat on the roof of the Mystery Shack, holding sodas and chilling. They'd settled their differences after the whole Dancing With Wendy Plan Debacle, and now sat side by side, gazing at the stars. 

In a synchronized movement only clones and identical twins could pull off, they had both moved to open their Pitt Colas when Tyrone's slipped in his grip, and he realized he could feel his hand withering. He shrieked, immediately releasing the soda and watching in terror as it fell. 

"Whoa, man," Dipper said, shocked and wide-eyed. "What was that? Are you okay?"

In that moment, Tyrone could really understand all of those illustrations of characters' ghosts exiting their bodies through their mouths in animes and mangas and such. He felt like the air had been knocked from his superficial lungs as his faux heart skipped a handful of beats in his paper chest. "I almost _died_ ," he wheezed, realizing how true that statement was as he murmured it. 

"What?" Dipper asked, concerned. 

"Paper." Tyrone stared down at the now-busted soda can on the ground, far below them. "I'm made of _paper_ , Dipper. Pitt Cola is a _liquid_ ; oh my god, I almost just ended up like the others. I almost just _melted_ , dude. I- I almost-" Tyrone rambled, breathing heavily in quick, panicked gasps. He scrambled back from the edge of the roof, lightly clutching his hand to his chest and staring vacantly in the general area of where the soda had fallen. The illusory sound of the pounding of his heart flooded Tyrone's ears, and he curled in on himself slightly, raising shaky hands to gaze at the palms – one perfect and dry, and the other faintly damp from the soda's condensation and wrinkling with the threat of melting. 

"Whoa, Tyrone! Calm down," Dipper soothed, attempting to sound as calming as possible and to remain as unthreatening as he could when he lifted himself from the roof and approached Tyrone. "It's okay, Ty; you're okay. You're fine. Can you put down your hands for me? Look at me instead. Up here – look at me."

Tyrone's mind was a jumbled, panicked mess; thoughts whirled and crashed into each other, whizzing around in his head too quickly to acknowledge them all. He complied to Dipper's request slowly, eyes unfocused and breaths fast and uneven. 

"Breathe, Tyrone. Breathe," Dipper instructed, stooping beside his clone to demonstrate. 

Tyrone nodded numbly, becoming aware of Dipper trying to send calming feelings through their mind link. This helped, successfully calming the copy down enough to follow Dipper's breathing example with little trouble. Ty breathed deeply as the frantic beating of his fake heart slowed down gradually. 

"Good. Great job, Tyrone. You did great, buddy," Dipper praised gently. He began rubbing soft circles into his clone's back. "You want a hug, man?"

Tyrone nodded emptily, their shared memories of Mabel causing him to find immense comfort in touch. He immediately slumped into the arms that wrapped around him, distantly realizing how good of a thing it was that he'd managed not to cry. 

After a while of pleasant silence, Dipper nudged the other gently. "C'mon, dude. Let's go inside. You need some rest," he paused uncertainly. "Can... Can you even sleep?" 

Letting out a weak laugh, Tyrone shrugged, rubbing his face, and stating, "No clue. I feel exhausted, though, so probably. Guess we'll find out soon enough, right?"

Dipper chuckled, "Guess we will. Come on, man," he pat Tyrone on the back and stood, offering his hand to help the other up. 

Tyrone gave him a hollow grin, gripping the proffered hand and using it as leverage to rise to his feet. He kept his damp hand clutched loosely to his chest. "Thanks, dude."

"No problem," Dipper replied easily as he made his way back inside the Shack. Then, with a sly grin, he added, "As long as you don't try to steal my life again."

The clone laughed lightly, following behind him. "Nope. I've learned my lesson. Besides, now that I think about it, it's physically impossible. Paper and ink definitely aren't the best things to be made of."

"Touché," Dipper conceded, climbing inside through the hatch. "We'll have to find some kind of way to make you waterproof or something."

"Really?" Tyrone asked a bit excitedly, closing the hatch after them. 

"Yeah. But taking my place will still be off-limits," Dipper warned, hopping off the bottom of the ladder. 

Tyrone rolled his eyes. "I figured." He had a little difficulty climbing down with only one hand, but it was nothing he couldn't... _handle_. 

He supposed nearly dying took a serious toll on the quality of his jokes. 

A moment later, he joined Dipper on the floor, put up the ladder, and followed Dipper to the twins' room. There was an awkward moment of silence then, until something occurred to both of them. 

"How are we going to explain..." Tyrone trailed off uncertainly, gesturing vaguely to himself. 

"What are we gonna tell Mabel?" Dipper wondered. 

"We tell Mabel the truth," Tyrone responded easily. "Who I'm worried about is Grunkle Stan."

"Right... Do you think he'd believe we were actually triplets?" Dipper ventured. 

Ty thought about it for a second, "Well, he definitely wouldn't believe the truth. If we got Mabel, Soos and Wendy to go along with it, he might buy it."

"Yeah. Yeah," Dipper nodded, already mentally mapping out a plan. "We can get Soos to go 'pick you up from the bus stop' while I fill Wendy in on your existence when she shows up for work tomorrow."

"We can say that I was at camp or something," Tyrone added. 

"That could work," Dipper confirmed. "Yeah. We can do this. This will work." He almost sounded like he was trying to convince himself. (Though, technically, he was.)

"It will," agreed Tyrone. 

Dipper glanced at the hand Tyrone was holding to his chest and frowned worriedly. "You okay, man? Does it hurt?"

"Eh, a little," Ty admitted. "Kinda feels like my hand is a melting popsicle."

Dipper winced sympathetically and whistled. "Wow. That definitely doesn't sound fun."

Tyrone shrugged. 

"We should see about fixing that somehow," Dipper suggested lamely. 

Ty snorted, "Probably, yeah."

"So, uh..." Dipper began, fidgeting as he looked around awkwardly. "How would we go about doing that?" He turned back to Tyrone expectantly. 

Ty gave him a helpless shrug. "How should I know? I've only existed for like, an hour."

"That is... very true." Dipper bit his lip and began to pace, deep in thought. 

Tyrone did a bit of his own brainstorming as he watched the other walk in circles across the room. "What if," he hesitated, "Well, I'm made of paper, so-"

Then, the door slammed open, accompanied by a familiar, excited shout of, " _Dipper!_ " 

"Mabel!" both Dippers exclaimed, freezing like deer the headlights. 

"Guess-" Mabel paused, eyes widening as she took in the scene before her, "What..." She finished her previous statement, trailing off. "Dipper. Did you- You didn't, did you?"

Dipper and Tyrone glanced at each other nervously, faces reddening. They both looked away at the same time and rubbed the back of their necks. "Uh, well..."

Mabel groaned. "You did! Dip _perrr_! You dumb-butt! I told you to just dance with Wendy! Literally! That's all you had to do! Why did you clone yourself?!"

"Wendy came inside to dance, but when I tried to follow her, Grunkle Stan caught me and told me to get back to work." Dipper started. 

"That's where I came in," Tyrone told her. "I would man the ticket booth while Dipper Classic-"

"That's me," Dipper interjected. 

Tyrone went on as though he hadn't been interrupted, "Enacted the plan and got to dance with Wendy."

"But then Robbie showed up," Dipper took over the narration again. "With his new guitar, and his 'cool' act, and his prior relationship with Wendy, I didn't stand a chance."

"So we had to change up the plan again," Tyrone informed solemnly. "And... I'll admit; I went a little cliché clone on Dipper Classic and convinced him that we needed more clones, just in case. Half of it was genuine concern about the variables though, I swear!" 

"Then where are the rest of the clones?" Mabel asked uncertainly. 

The other two were basically taking turns explaining at this point, and now it was Dipper's. "Well, after we made more of me, we set our new plan into motion. It was all going smoothly until-"

"Until this guy," Tyrone motioned to Dipper with his better hand, "Decided not to stick to the plan."

"And then you napkins ganged up on me and tried to take my place," Dipper snapped, irritated. 

"Who're you calling a napkin, you doormat," Tyrone returned, just as scathingly. 

"Who're you callin' a doormat-"

"Boys!" Mabel shouted. 

"Sorry," they mumbled abashedly. 

"Don't apologize to me! Apologize to each other," she commanded, crossing her arms over her chest. 

The two males glanced at each other briefly before lowering their gazes and murmuring, "Sorry, man."

"Better," Mabel nodded, satisfied. "Now, I came up here to tell you that I'm having a sleepover with some friends I met tonight... But... Do we need a cover story for him?" She gestured to Tyrone. 

"Actually, we were just talking about that," Dipper informed her. "We were thinking that if we got you, Soos, and Wendy in on it, then we could manage to convince Grunkle Stan that we're actually triplets, and Tyrone was just at camp or something."

"Tyrone...?" Mabel inquired. 

"Me," the clone replied. "I'd really rather not just be called 'Number Two' or 'the clone', ya know?"

"Oh, okay," Mabel nodded in understanding. "And yeah, we could probably make that work, but what would we do at the end of the summer?"

There was silence as the three of them thought about it. 

Tyrone broke it, holding up his wrinkled, faintly damp hand. "I don't know, but I almost died earlier, and I'd rather not go through that again. Ever, preferably." 

Mabel gasped. "How did that happen?!"

"We kinda forgot that water makes copies melt, and he was going to drink some Pitt Cola." Dipper said. 

"Luckily, there was some condensation on the can, and I got away with nothing more than a slightly mushy hand," Tyrone shrugged. "It I hadn't felt that, I probably would have drunk the Pitt Cola and melted."

"Wow," Mabel gave him a wide-eyed look. "That's some luck. So will that just dry up and be better?"

Tyrone examined his hand. "Actually... I think it's spreading..."

"Oh no!" Mabel exclaimed as Dipper's expression became shocked. "How do we fix it?!" The girl questioned concernedly. 

"I'm not sure, but it probably has something to do with paper since I'm made of the stuff," Ty answered. 

"Do you have to eat it?" Mabel asked.

Tyrone blinked. "Well, I was thinking something more along the lines of, like, wrapping my hand in it or something, but if that doesn't work, I guess I could try that..."

Mabel nodded resolutely and turned to run out the door to find some paper, but she paused as she remembered, "Grenda and Candy are still downstairs! Uh, I'll distract them. Dipper, you go get the paper, and let me know when you guys have solved the problem, alright? I'll tell them we're triplets too."

They all nodded and rushed off to their individual destinations. Tyrone, having nowhere to go, awkwardly turned to Dipper's bed and took a seat, trying not to have another panic attack. 

Soon enough, the door opened again, revealing Dipper... And Soos?

"Whoa, dude, there's like, another you!" The larger man stated in surprise. 

"Yeah. I used the copying machine I told you about to make him," Dipper explained as he rushed over to Tyrone, handing the copy a stack of papers. "But now we have to explain his existence to Grunkle Stan. And while he may own the Mystery Shack, that doesn't mean he believes in the supernatural. So we were thinking you could help us by getting Stan to believe we're actually triplets and acting like you just picked Tyrone up from the bus stop. Our cover story is that he was at camp, so he had to join us here later."

While Dipper spoke, Tyrone busied himself with putting paper on his hand. 

Nothing happened. 

Grumbling unhappily to himself, Ty used his elbow to pin down the copy paper while he ripped off a piece with his dry hand. He glared at the piece of paper before squeezing his eyes shut and shoving it in his mouth. 

His eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he chewed. The paper tasted like... Mashed potatoes? 

Tyrone swallowed the paper and watched, transfixed, as his hand returned to normal. _Wow. This is my life now._

"Who-" Soos started to ask. 

Tyrone held up his now fixed hand, "That would be me."

"Oh. Cool name, hambone," the handyman nodded in approval. 

"Thanks, Soos," Dipper and Tyrone responded in unison. 

"Whoa, dudes. That's freaky. But like, a cool kind of creepy." Soos looked between them in awe. "Hey, clone dude. You're not gonna, like, try to steal Dipper's life or something like that, right?"

Tyrone and Dipper shared a glance, and the former smiled wryly, telling Soos, "Nah. Been there; done that. Narrowly avoided death. Like, twice. Granted, the second time was accidental, but I'd still rather not go through through that again."

The handyman looked to Dipper uncertainly. "If you say so, little dudes."

"Well, Mabel can only distract her new friends for so long, so we should probably go ahead an set the plan in motion," Dipper laughed awkwardly. 

"Right!" Soos lit up, pointing towards the front door. "To my truck!" He exclaimed, scuttling off in its direction. 

The two boys hurried toward Dipper's things, each grabbing a separate item. Tyrone retrieved Dipper's bookbag and shoved the papers inside of it for emergencies, and Dipper dug around, eventually emerging with a rain poncho, which he wordlessly handed to Tyrone. They nodded to each other and said, "Good luck." Then they both raced downstairs as cautiously as possible, and Dipper went off to distract Grunkle Stan as Tyrone went outside. 

The clone put on the poncho Dipper had given him before hopping off the porch and joining Soos in the handyman's truck. As soon as he signaled he was ready, Soos peeled out of the Mystery Shack's parking lot, headed for the bus stop. 

»2«


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wh e e z eS  
> so ive kinda had this chapter done for a while but something felt off??????? so i didnt post it  
> and then ayoecho commented on the first chapter and after screaming for like half an hour i went fuck it and here it is  
> so basically the lesson here is if you guys want more of this fluster me and feed my ego until you get it
> 
> also lOOK AT THE FIRST EVE R FANART IVE GO T TEN G UYS http://ayoecho.tumblr.com/post/146517507297 IM LITERALLY SO H APPY RN
> 
> NOTE: i made some edits to the first chapter but i dont _think_ you need to reread it  
>  i mean you can if you want  
> but you probs dont have to  
> tbh idek what all i edited exactly  
> its been a while

While Tyrone left with Soos, Dipper gave Mabel a thumbs up as he walked past the kitchen, letting her know that the paper had worked. She smiled and excused herself for a moment when her brother motioned her over. 

"We already told Soos," Dipper informed Mabel when she joined him in the hall. "So he's 'getting Tyrone from the bus stop' as we speak. The paper worked. I didn't see what he did, but I think he had to eat it. Good job with that idea, by the way."

Mabel grinned. "Awesome! Candy and Grenda are still waiting on their parents to bring them some clothes, so they don't mind not going upstairs yet. Anyway, I promised them I'd introduce you to them, so come on!" She grabbed him by the wrist and began to pull him towards her friends. 

"Wait! I was gonna tell Grunkle Stan-" 

"I should probably do that anyway; we both know I'm the better actor!" Mabel rebutted cheerfully. 

"Mabel!" Dipper complained futilely. 

She didn't respond as she dragged him into the kitchen, grinning cheekily. "Hey, girls! This is _one_ of my brothers: Dipper!"

"Hi, Dipper!" Grenda shouted while Candy greeted him with a much quieter, "Hello, Dipper."

"Uh, hi," Dipper's face turned gnome hat red when his voice cracked. 

Grenda leaned over to a giggling Candy and not-so-quietly whispered, "He's adorable!"

Dipper somehow managed to blush even harder. 

He was babbling nearly incoherently when Grunkle Stan walked in with a confused expression. "Anybody seen Soos?" Stan asked the gathering of preteens. "He usually tells me before he leaves, and I haven't seen him in a while."

Mabel spun around to face him, smiling as she replied, "He left to go pick up Tyrone from the bus stop!"

The old man stared at her blankly. "He went to do what to who now?"

Mabel rolled her eyes playfully, "Our brother, silly!"

Stan furrowed his brows as he glanced between his great niece and nephew. "But he's right there...?"

" _No_ ," Mabel shook her head. "Our _other_ brother, dummy! We're triplets!" 

"I coulda sworn your parents said you were twins." He deadpanned. 

"Nope!" She chirped. "We're triplets!"

"Huh," Stan intoned, scratching his side. "Guess I really am getting old." He moved on after that, headed in a seemingly random direction. 

Dipper and Mabel shot each other matching looks of relief, letting out breaths they hadn't realized they'd been holding, before turning around and continuing to talk to Candy and Grenda. 

»2«

"So, dawg, what's it like being made of paper?" Soos asked conversationally. 

Tyrone shrugged, "Not too great so far."

"Really?" 

Tyrone glanced at Soos; the man was focused on driving and seemed as jovial as he remem- well. As Dipper remembered. Tyrone returned to staring listlessly out the window, lips firmly pressed together. With a sigh, he explained, "Paper... definitely isn't the most durable of materials." He raised a pale hand, observing it passively as he spoke. "I can't get wet, or I'll melt. I can't get too close to fire or anything really hot, or I'll probably burst into flames. And I don't know anything about how my body works at all. And that doesn't even cover the fact that none of my memories are my own – they all belong to the 'real' Dipper."

Soos side-eyed him. "Not this one."

"What?" Tyrone inquired in confusion, setting his hand back in his lap as he furrowed his eyebrows at Soos. 

"I mean, you said all of your memories are Dipper's, right?" Soos clarified, returning Tyrone's gaze. "Well, Dipper's not here right now, little dude. It's just you, me, and the trees, man. Oops!" The handyman swerved back onto the road after realizing he'd drifted off of it while talking. "Sorry about that, hambone!" 

"Jeez, Soos!" Ty exclaimed, clutching his chest and the seat beneath him tightly, eyes wide. 

"Actually, it's pronounced ' _hey_ -soos'," Soos joked with a grin. 

The boy blinked. Opened his mouth. Closed it again. Tried to form something even mildly resembling an appropriate reaction. Failed. 

Then, despite himself, Tyrone gave in. 

He laughed. 

The atmosphere between the two was a lot less tense after that. For that, they were both grateful. And though they didn't breach their previous topic again, Soos had located within Tyrone's mind the seeds of revolutionary thoughts and planted them. He'd definitely given the clone something important to think about.

»2«

When Tyrone opened the door of the Shack, he wasn't entirely sure what he'd find. 

As he stood in the archway leading to the living room, however, he resolved that he would never allow himself to be captured by the pure chaotic force that was Mabel Pines and her friends. 

Dipper sat in the middle of the group, covered in makeup and various other girly supplies, exhibiting an expression of pure suffering. The girls chattered animatedly as they moved about the boy, completing various tasks such as painting his nails, applying makeup, and one of them was in the midst of removing his hat. 

Tyrone really couldn't help it when he began laughing. Dipper just looked _so ridiculous._

Even Soos chuckled a bit, but he hid it behind his hand. 

The occupants of the room before them all snapped to attention at the sudden sound. 

"Soos! Tyrone!" Mabel and Dipper shouted in unison, jumping to their feet. "You're back!"

"Yup! Hi, dudes," Soos greeted happily while Tyrone attempted to catch his breath. 

"You m-make such a pretty princess," Ty wheezed out between snickers, "D-Dipper."

The twins rushed over to the duo in the doorway. Dipper stuck his tongue out at his clone and lightly slugged him in the arm, and Mabel made a show of nearly tackling Tyrone with a hug. When Mabel pulled away, she looked like she wanted to say something, but she cast a worried glance to the side, biting her lip. She leaned forward again under the guise of giving him another hug and whispered in his ear, "We need to talk later."

Tyrone fought down his confusion and light concern, instead nodding minutely to let her know he understood. 

She leaned back again, smiling brightly, and said, "Wow, Ty! I know it's only been a week or two, but it feels like you've been at camp forever!" Mabel certainly was quite the actress. 

Tyrone caught the curious gaze Dipper shot him, and merely shrugged in response. He was just as confused. "Same here, Mabes," he replied to Mabel, keeping up the act. 

She giggled and took ahold of his wrist. _Oh no._ "Come meet my new friends!" There it was. 

When he realized that Soos seemed to have vanished, Dipper backed away slowly, hoping that this was his chance to escape as well, but his sister simply knew him too well. 

"Oh, no you don't, Dippy. We aren't done with you yet!" She captured his wrist as well, pulling the two into the room with her unreasonable strength. 

The boy and his clone gave each other mirroring looks of despair. 

They were stopped by a familiar gravelly voice. "Mabel, honey. Your brother just got here. Doesn't he have things to unpack?" 

"Aww, but Grunkle Staaan," Mabel whined.

"No 'but's, kid. Don't you have guests to entertain anyway?" Stan replied smoothly and sipped from a can of Pitt Cola. 

Mabel pouted but released her captives, who scrambled away as soon as they were free. 

"Hold it, buckos, I ain't done with you yet," Stan held out his arms to stop the boys. Once he succeeded, he held out his free hand to Tyrone. "Name's Stanford, but you can call me Grunkle Stan."

"Tyrone," the preteen responded, shaking the elder's hand and smiling awkwardly. 

"Nice to meet ya, kid," Stan said gruffly, letting go of Tyrone's hand and patting him on the back. It was more of a slap, honestly, but semantics. He squinted at the boy, scrutinizing him, "What's with the poncho, though? 'S it rainin' or somethin'?" He asked confusedly. 

Tyrone laughed nervously, "Ah, no. It's just... my thing."

"Your thing?" Stan lifted an incredulous eyebrow. 

"Yeah," Tyrone tried to sound more confident. "Mabel's got her sweaters, Dipper's got his vest, and I've got my poncho."

Dipper nodded in agreement, backing him up, "He wears it all the time. Barely even takes it off at home."

Grunkle Stan looked a bit weirded out, but he shrugged. Living in Gravity Falls, it wasn't a stretch to assume that he'd witnessed weirder. "Go ahead and show him your room, kid," he told Dipper. "I've gotta go find that extra cot. I think it was somewhere in the..." he muttered to himself as he walked off. 

The boys let out a sigh of relief as they started up the stairs. 

"I can't believe that worked so well," Dipper whispered. 

Ty bumped their shoulders together good-naturedly. "Of course it did, we planned it together!"

Dipper laughed softly and Ty grinned. 

»2«

Later, Grunkle Stan told them that the girls were sleeping downstairs, so Tyrone could use Mabel's bed for the night. The cot hadn't been where Stan had thought it was anyway, and he was too tired to check anywhere else; the point being that Ty didn't really have a choice in the matter unless he wanted to share a bed with Dipper. 

Tyrone said he was fine with Mabel's bed. 

After an awkward exchange of 'good night's with the old man, Dipper and Tyrone were once again alone. 

"You do realize that you're probably going to be eternally covered in glitter if you sleep in Mabel's bed, right?" Dipper inquired as they got ready for bed. 

"Yeah, but I know you don't wanna share a bed, and my only other option is the floor. It's not like a little glitter is gonna kill me. Probably." Tyrone peeled off his hat and poncho as he responded, and then took off his vest and shoes. 

Dipper, having finished a little before him, watched him in wonder. "Huh. I wasn't sure that you'd be able to take off your clothes for some reason."

Tyrone chuckled, taking a seat on Mabel's bed. "Same. Not that that's surprising."

Dipper laughed as well, laying down on his own bed. "Yeah. Well, night, Tyrone. Try not to get smothered by Mabel's mountain of stuffed animals." He reached over and turned off the lamp. 

Tyrone laid back in Mabel's bed, pulling the covers over himself. "Night, Dipper," he laughed, "I'll try."

»2«

_You're just a cheap copy..._

_Useless paper doll..._

_You'll never measure up to the "real" Dipper..._

Tyrone's dreams were merely murmurs. Snippets of hateful thoughts that he himself had tried to smother. 

That was the worst part. 

The thoughts were his own. 

_You're even weaker than him...!_

_You bring a whole new meaning to noodle arms..._

_You can't do anything..._

In his dream, Tyrone stood in a spotlight, surrounded by an inky void. Something restrained him so that he couldn't move; all he could do was stand in place and listen to his own hateful thoughts. 

In his bed, he tossed and turned, frowning in his sleep. Soft whimpers slipped through the minuscule cracks between his lips. 

_You aren't even yourself..._

_You're a fake paper Dipper that can't even get wet..._

_You can never be a normal kid again... Not that you've ever even been one..._

He felt something grab him, and he tensed, trembling in fear. It shook him, and he curled in on himself as much as he could, struggling to hold back terrified sobs. 

_Wannabe..._

_Traitor..._

_Evil..._

"...rone...! _Tyrone!_ "

The grip tightened, and the shaking became more insistent until Tyrone awoke with a gasp, pupils dilated as he shot up in Mabel's bed, heart racing. He glanced around frantically, freezing when he spotted the source of the shaking sensation in his dream, who just so happened to also be the owner of the bed he currently sat in. 

"Mabel...?" He asked weakly. 

"Are you okay? That looked like a pretty bad dream..." Mabel commented in lieu of answering. 

"I'm... I'm fine..." Tyrone lied, hugging his knees to his chest and not meeting her gaze. 

Mabel eyed him critically, concern drenching her features. "No, you're not," Mabel told him. She reached out to put a hand on his arm, only to immediately recoil. His skin was slimy, and thin, goopy strings of it trailed after Mabel's hand when she pulled back. Shock was the most prominent emotion on her features as she gasped and shook her hand furiously to dry it. 

Tyrone's eyes widened. "Crap!" He whisper-shouted. "No, no, no, no, no! Shoot- uh- paper! Backpack! Mabel, can you-?"

Mabel nodded vigorously before he could finish, jumping to her feet and whipping her head from side to side as she searched for her brother's bag in the night-darkened room. 

"There," Tyrone motioned toward it with his head. 

"Oh! I see it!" Mabel dove for the bag, landing with a loud thump that made Tyrone wince and glance at Dipper apprehensively, who shifted a bit, but didn't wake up. Oblivious to Tyrone's anxiety, Mabel rooted around for a moment before triumphantly pulling the small stack of paper from Dipper's bag and rushing it over to Tyrone. She held it out to him expectantly, seeming a bit panicked herself. 

Tyrone took the papers gingerly, then looked to the side ashamedly. "Could you-" he muttered, "Could you turn around?"

Mabel tilted her head curiously, eyebrows furrowed, "Why? You've just gotta eat it, right? Dipper Classic told me."

Tyrone's cheeks burned in embarrassment, and he couldn't meet her eyes. "Please?" He tried again weakly. 

Then, "Oh!" Mabel's eyes widened in realization. " _Ohhh!_ I get it! You're embarrassed!"

Tyrone didn't respond. 

"Can do, Dipper two! Turning around," she did so, sitting at the foot of her own bed and directing her gaze toward the entrance to the room. "Yup! Closed the door behind me when I came in! There it is! Nice and closed!"

Tyrone winced at the name she'd used, but still managed a waning smile at her production. His eyes dropped to the stack of papers in his lap. They reflected the dim moonlight unassumingly, almost mocking him with their innocence. He sighed softly as he ripped of a piece and held it up. 

_Bon appétit,_ he thought to himself sardonically, putting the paper in his mouth. It tasted the same as before, though this time, he was able to detect a hint of crackers. It was interesting that it tasted like anything other than mush, however depressing the need to eat it might have been. Small blessings, he guessed. 

When he was no longer literally dripping from the sweat accumulated during his nightmare, he set the papers off to the side, cleared his throat softly (still not wanting to wake up Dipper Classic), and spoke, "So... You said you wanted to talk, earlier...?"

"Oh, yeah!" Mabel chirped as she turned back to him. "I wanted to ask you some questions!"

Nodding nervously, Tyrone shakily quipped, "Well, we're pretty much alone right now, so ask away, I guess."

Mabel bit her lip and looked him over. "As Dipper's clone," Tyrone tried to hold back a wince but was unsure how well he succeeded, "You have all the same preferences and junk, right?"

Tyrone paused. "I... Should? Probably." 

Mabel hummed. "Are you going to go all 'cliché clone' on him again?" She asked, coining the phrase Tyrone had used a few hours previous. 

Immediately, the clone shook his head. "I'm over it. It's too easy for me to die, and you guys know about as much about me as I do, so you know all of my weaknesses. And I'm kinda fond of the idea of staying alive. I wouldn't need to _now_ , anyway," he reasoned. "Triplets, right?" He smiled unconvincingly. 

"Oh. Yeah," she said simply. She gave him a smile of the same type he'd displayed. "Triplets."

And for all of the memories he had of her that were not his own, Tyrone could tell nothing of how Mabel truly felt about him. 

Maybe she couldn't either. 

»2«

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i get random bouts of inspiration for all my fics and like inbetween those bouts my writings p much crap and like halfway through this chapter my inspiration ran out and i kinda forgot everything i wanted mabes to ask ty so i had to improvise and i think i got the gist of it but sorry if it reads a little weird or something idk
> 
> also if you guys see any typos that i missed tell me because those are embarrassing

**Author's Note:**

> Anyway I decided to post this 'cause I need some opinions.  
> There are quite a few episodes in between Double Dipper and Sock Opera, and I dunno if I wanna rewrite all of them to add in Tyrone. So I want to know what you guys want.  
> Should I rewrite every episode? Should I briefly describe them all, but other than that leave them alone? Should I gloss over some and do others in detail? If so, which ones? Should I just skip straight to Sock Opera so we can get to the fluff faster???  
> Idk what do you want from me???????


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